castaway_kid

There is a private event at the park from 11 am-5pm.

Labor Day weekend is never the best time to go. First like others have said a lot of the staff have gone back to school. This weekend has a larger number of call in than normal. The park anticipates this and staffs up but that doesn't help when they call in too. What bothers me as an employee is that the guests don't see how hard we are trying still. I mean, the Park President, the acting park manager, ops director, and several supervisors from across the operations division were at the front gate for hours each day this weekend, and then they were at different food stands across the park. No we are not perfect, but when you hit around 18,000 guests on a Sunday in September, its a hard task to keep up with. The operations division really stepped up this weekend and tried to help but there's only so much we can do with the circumstances. For example, there were rides, entertainment, park services, and security supervisors jumping into food stands and restaurants trying to help speed things up. Again, we are not perfect and in an industry like this no one ever is, but we ARE TRYING to make sure you guys have fun.

I suppose I could say the same about SFOT. In fairness, I must applaud the efforts of Steve Martindale and SFOT Management. They always make sure that our park receives something respectable each year. If it was a Star Flyer, then it would be the 400ft version. If it was flats, then we would get the best flats money could buy. We are still the only SF park to haved received a Zamperla Endeavor ride. And ours has twice the seating capacity of the one at Coney. Say what you will about our forth coming S&S 4d Free Fly. It least it's not a Larson Loop or used bumper cars. Hopefully, SFSTL management is planning for something big in the future. Who knows, maybe that RMC T-Rex Giga is on the horizon. To be fair, we've been hearing that "something big is coming" propaganda since like 2008. It's a forgotten link in the SF chain, dependent on goobers who flock there without any actual awareness that their park is sub-par in the whole SF chain. In other words, the company has no need to add anything of value to our park, because the toothless hillbillies think a boring, one-trick Disk-O or a horrible boomerang is something special. Face it. We're stuck with this crap. Get used to it. Better yet, plan some roadtrips to actual good parks.... Clearly you guys have not been paying attention to what HWFan and myself have been saying, so I will say it one more time. Does the park need a signiture coaster, yes. But the park needed general improvements more. Lets say that in 2013 instead of Boomerang we got a signiture coaster, not the greatest thing ever but an all around good ride. People start flocking to the park that season and see all the things that need painting and repair. Many of those people would leave with the opinion that the ride was good but the park looked terrible and wouldn't return till the next big thing is built which would be years. What they instead are doing is installing small additions to replace aging and unpopular rides and taking the remaining funds and funneling it into general park improvements. This phase should be wrapping up soon just in time for the parks 50th year. I see Spinsanity as a step forward, we have gotten past the point of every addition is a replacement for something and now we are expanding the portfolio. Compare the park today to were it was back in 2012 or 2013 and it is a significant improvement. There is a method to the madness and reasons for the way things are being done. Once you figure out the method you realize that it truly isn't madness at all, but logic. You obviously haven't been around the park that long as some of us others have, we've been hearing about park improvements for OVER A DECADE and it isn't happening, they have done more than they used to do, but no where CLOSE to what theyve needed to be. As long as they keep doing small park improvements and not large ones, theyll never catch up and theyll always be 3 steps behind. Im not being negative, Im being realistic in the sense that Ive been watching it happen for well over a decade. Ask any maintenance staff, youll see.... Until they invest at MINIMUM of 4-6 million into improvements and hire a ton of contractors to help the full time maintenance staff, the park will continue to be be a semi polished turd. Except they HAVE done pretty huge things, I don't know why you insist on being so argumentative with someone who works at the park and sees what happens and how things function from a day-to-day basis. To be honest I'm getting really sick and tired of everyone constantly shooting down any actual reason and fairness on this forum and trying to counter it with a bunch of muddled nonsense. Last year they renovated the entire freaking Palace Theater, including the whole interior and exterior, which was a HUGE investment and needed to be done, and just this season they opened up a brand new restaurant where one hadn't existed for years, repainted the facade by Batman, the facade for The Boss, they're retheming Pandemonium now, there was even more theming added to Thunder River, more and more landscaping jobs are being created every year, this year having the most, and yet people like you are most likely going to keep saying that they don't invest crap into the park, give me a break. And you wonder why HWFan keeps his distance from this forum now. now I'LL be the one who says PAY ATTENTION to CHRISGRASLIE...... what does the very first line of my last message say?..... do you think HWfan is the ONLY person on here that works at the park? Do you think HWFan is the only one who speaks with management?.... if you've read these forums much, youll see that he is NOT the only one who works at the park or has very close association and business with it. SOOOO, Ill say again my first line for you in case you missed it.... "You obviously haven't been around the park that long as some of us others have, we've been hearing about park improvements for OVER A DECADE and it isn't happening, they have done more than they used to do, but no where CLOSE to what theyve needed to be." I even said that YES, they HAVE been making improvements, but theyre on pace to NEVER CATCH UP!...... just reread my last post again so that it can sink in fully please. Sorry for coming off so harsh, it just really ticks me off when people run their mouths without reading or knowing what theyre talking about!!! I know HWFan isn't the only one on here who works at the park, obviously I'm not that stupid. I use him as an example because for a while he was the guy that kept this forum from spiraling into madness, and even he's given up on replying to the crap people say on here. I talk to other employees other than him that pretty much all have the same amount of frustration with this forum, which is exactly the reason why I respond to things the way that I do, because I've gotten tired of it as well. What people like you need to understand is that they're not going as slowly as you think. It's great that you can acknowledge they're doing more things than they used to do, but those things aren't written on a little half sheet of paper with 3 bullet points. There was only so much money they could put into it before, but this year and last year is when it's started to really ramp up, and you're going to see even more in 2017. There's a clear goal in place for where they want to be, and as more money goes into improvements and refurbishments, they'll get there within the next few seasons. I feel as if I'm typing the same stuff over and over, I really just wish everyone would see the big picture so I can stop repeating myself, it's not just me that's trying to get this message across. As someone that knows a lot of the actual big picture of the park, it doesn't quite line up with your version of the big picture...

I suppose I could say the same about SFOT. In fairness, I must applaud the efforts of Steve Martindale and SFOT Management. They always make sure that our park receives something respectable each year. If it was a Star Flyer, then it would be the 400ft version. If it was flats, then we would get the best flats money could buy. We are still the only SF park to haved received a Zamperla Endeavor ride. And ours has twice the seating capacity of the one at Coney. Say what you will about our forth coming S&S 4d Free Fly. It least it's not a Larson Loop or used bumper cars. Hopefully, SFSTL management is planning for something big in the future. Who knows, maybe that RMC T-Rex Giga is on the horizon. To be fair, we've been hearing that "something big is coming" propaganda since like 2008. It's a forgotten link in the SF chain, dependent on goobers who flock there without any actual awareness that their park is sub-par in the whole SF chain. In other words, the company has no need to add anything of value to our park, because the toothless hillbillies think a boring, one-trick Disk-O or a horrible boomerang is something special. Face it. We're stuck with this crap. Get used to it. Better yet, plan some roadtrips to actual good parks.... Clearly you guys have not been paying attention to what HWFan and myself have been saying, so I will say it one more time. Does the park need a signiture coaster, yes. But the park needed general improvements more. Lets say that in 2013 instead of Boomerang we got a signiture coaster, not the greatest thing ever but an all around good ride. People start flocking to the park that season and see all the things that need painting and repair. Many of those people would leave with the opinion that the ride was good but the park looked terrible and wouldn't return till the next big thing is built which would be years. What they instead are doing is installing small additions to replace aging and unpopular rides and taking the remaining funds and funneling it into general park improvements. This phase should be wrapping up soon just in time for the parks 50th year. I see Spinsanity as a step forward, we have gotten past the point of every addition is a replacement for something and now we are expanding the portfolio. Compare the park today to were it was back in 2012 or 2013 and it is a significant improvement. There is a method to the madness and reasons for the way things are being done. Once you figure out the method you realize that it truly isn't madness at all, but logic. You obviously haven't been around the park that long as some of us others have, we've been hearing about park improvements for OVER A DECADE and it isn't happening, they have done more than they used to do, but no where CLOSE to what theyve needed to be. As long as they keep doing small park improvements and not large ones, theyll never catch up and theyll always be 3 steps behind. Im not being negative, Im being realistic in the sense that Ive been watching it happen for well over a decade. Ask any maintenance staff, youll see.... Until they invest at MINIMUM of 4-6 million into improvements and hire a ton of contractors to help the full time maintenance staff, the park will continue to be be a semi polished turd. Except they HAVE done pretty huge things, I don't know why you insist on being so argumentative with someone who works at the park and sees what happens and how things function from a day-to-day basis. To be honest I'm getting really sick and tired of everyone constantly shooting down any actual reason and fairness on this forum and trying to counter it with a bunch of muddled nonsense. Last year they renovated the entire freaking Palace Theater, including the whole interior and exterior, which was a HUGE investment and needed to be done, and just this season they opened up a brand new restaurant where one hadn't existed for years, repainted the facade by Batman, the facade for The Boss, they're retheming Pandemonium now, there was even more theming added to Thunder River, more and more landscaping jobs are being created every year, this year having the most, and yet people like you are most likely going to keep saying that they don't invest crap into the park, give me a break. And you wonder why HWFan keeps his distance from this forum now. HWFan is not the only person that works at the park that offers info on this site. There are several others that work much more into the day to day operations. Yes this forum is a bit negative lately but oh well, people are just stating their opinions. As for you post. the new theming that went into thunder river is because the original theming, the waterfalls, literally began to fall apart so instead of replacing the waterfalls, they painted letters on a smooth concrete wall instead. Panda is just being painted, that is all. Palace got cosmetic work done on it outside, but nothing was done on the inside. You are correct about landscaping though. Ever since Nick took over landscaping a few years ago he was put so much more energy into the park and his team is much more creative now too.

So far everything I've heard says Chevy Showcase is staying. Its either going to run parallel to the tracks or its going to take Slingshots spot. A quick Google Streetview analysis just before reading this post had already killed my hopes. Too bad. I hate that building with passion. If that building goes away, then you loose quite a bit of the parks fright fest storage along with general storage for the entertainment department. I don't believe that building is going anywhere and despite your hate for that building, it needs to stay if the park wants to maintain its current FF, regular season entertainment plus the additional stuff going in there for HIP.

McBride & Son home bought all of it, they started clearing it last November and are building 4 neighborhoods, a park, and an elementary school. Apparently there is a clause for home buyers that they can not complain about any noises coming from the park.

Nothing happened to it. It was simply that, a rumor... Everyone was just assuming that we were getting one because it would fit in a Tidal Wave sized area and SFSTL is always hoping for a new coaster. So nothing was stolen from us.

There have been surveyors around the area between Sound Stage and the train tracks for the last several days. I asked if Sound Stage was going to be removed and was told no. They said it still makes too much money as a haunted attraction during FF and also houses a lot of the entertainment departments set pieces for their other theaters and other décor for throughout the year. I wouldn't be surprised if the old façade between SS#2 and the tracks goes away.

It's on the Six Flags St Louis facebook page, and the Flash Sale for current passholders is 2017 Gold Pass for $49.99 each. That's the good part. The bad part is that the Season Dining Passes come up for $200.00! There is no way I'm paying $200 for a Season Dining Pass! THe thing is, that pass doesn't come up as part of the Flash Sale. There's a link to buy it on the Flash Sale page, but it just takes you to the regular Season Dining Pass page, which has no mention of a discount. So, I'm hoping that when September 1st rolls around, there will be a sale on the Season Dining Passes as well. If there's not, well, we'll be spending about one tenth as much time at Six Flags as we have the past few years, since the Dining Pass is a big reason we visit, and we'll be eating outside the park because I will not be paying $10 for a hot dog. Does anyone have any knowledge of whether the price will come down September 1st? Please Note: Season Dining Passes and Memberships will also be available at very special prices (with very special offers) during the Flash Sale beginning September 1. If you're looking for either of these items, please check back on Thursday! The Gold Dining Pass is good Coast to Coast. However I don't know if they include SF Mexico or La Ronde. Are there chain-wide dinning passes or is it only park specific?

There are quite a few that I saw that are very clever haha

On a more positive note, Maintenance was working on Boomerang and Superman all day. Still no train on Boom but on Superman they were using car number 6, which is the one the "incident" happen on. I'm guessing they pulled one of the spare cars from the graveyard to replace it because there was no visible damage to car 6 anymore, and they also were lowering a new cable to that car. I'm surprised and happy that they have gotten this far on Superman after what happened to it. But I'm still never getting on it again.

No coaster for us next year... or so I've been told

The comments from those surveys do get read and they get sent out to the individual departments Managers and Supervisors. We try and make improvements based on the comments but are usually told to "make it happen" without getting any additional funds or resources. As for the other stuff on the surveys I'm not sure who sees that. I'm not even sure if Corporate reads the comments or if it is just to the individual parks. All I know is the departments do see them.

During one of the town hall meetings, it was discussed that Hurricane Harbors next expansion would be in 2019. Also, a member of the maintenance team said that Sound Stage might be on the chopping block in the near future for a new attraction.

Actually some of his post sounds pretty accurate. And if superman does reopen, I wouldn't be surprised if it were only 2 or three cars.

Other than the fact that the park In general hates having rides down, I think it is even more important for them to get Tidal Wave open as soon as they can as Boomerang and Superman are both inoperable for now... one of them I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was for good... But already having 2 rides closed in that specific part of the park might make them want to reopen Tidal Wave faster. Having that many rides down in a small area tends to upset the guest a lot more.

The facade has done that since the first year. It seems to do it after prolonged exposure to heat and humidity (we get none of that here) then once it cools off it seems to go away. I did a little digging into Tidal Wave and it appears a leak on the splash basin got worse. It sounds like the plan is to fix it and reopen it. But then again Mine Train ops said its closed forever so I have to be wrong. The Tidal Wave is set to reopen in the next couple of days, maintenance was almost done with it today and then they have to refill. The train should also be reopening in a day or so as the new part has arrived.

I saw him at the park up in HR a few days ago, maybe a week. But I don't spend much time in HR

You are 100% correct! Dave really brought up the moral of the employees and always had the attitude of lets do whatever is needed to make the guests have a great day. Once Pete took over the park lost that family feeling. He cares only about numbers and saving labor, that's why things sometimes run at reduced capacities and dining locations close early. He also does not have that personal touch that the employees adored Dave for. We went from a family run park feeling to a corporate run park that no longer puts guests first.

I agree the Sky Screamer tower used to light up in neon colors and looked really cool from the highway. It hasn't lit up since last year. During Fright Fest last year when they had it on some of the neon color-changing bars were burnt out as well as a bunch of LEDs on the Six Flags logo, not sure what the reason for that is, but I hope the only reason it's off is because they're planning on fixing those. If I remember correctly the tower took a lighting strike last year which took out a section of the light tubes on the back of the tower and messed up the lights on the logo. They might be working on them or they turned them off until they have time to work on them. As of right now they have no plans on fixing the LEDs. They told me that the LED bars that came from the manufacturer were not very good quality and became very brittle and if they try to fix them they just break more.

Based on what I have been told, I wouldn't be surprised if Superman doesn't reopen this season... And that is being optimistic.

Do not go on August 13th. This is a concert day so it will be more crowded than a typical Saturday.

Don't think so, They just have to get the HIP stuff up before fright fest stuff because the turn around is so fast between the events. Its much easier to put up Christmas lights then throw fright fest on top of it and come November, remove the fright fest and already have all the lights in place. Its a very long process and with it being the first year its even longer. As far as I know there are no plan to use the HIP lights for FF.

When St. Louis got Justice League, we the employees were told that this was "our hyper coaster" by members of upper management. So it very much detracts from our ride if every other park gets one too. Once again SFSTL has nothing special and unique.

From what I have been told, most of the South Park is open minus the water rides obviously. The Boss and Eagle are closed, and the crossing arm by sky screamer is a block point. The rest of the Old Chicago area may or may not open depending on how big the event goes over and if they need the extra area to handle more guests. Each of the rides has a temperature that it can operate to until they shut it down. The big push for HIP is the park décor, which begins going up very soon, food and retail options, and entertainment, which signs for the Palace show for HIP where put up this week in the lobby. The show is called The Majesty of Christmas. If you go to the park they have a preview center by Bug Bunny National Park that shows a Map of the park with highlighted areas with the themes listed for the areas.